constituent state of the United States of America. It was admitted to the union as the 49th state on January 3, 1959. Alaska lies at the extreme northwest of the North American continent and is the largest peninsula in the Western Hemisphere. Because the 180th meridian passes through the state’s Aleutian Islands, Alaska’s westernmost portion is in the Eastern Hemisphere. Thus, technically, Alaska is in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres. Alaska is bounded by the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the north; Canada ’s Yukon territory and British Columbia province to the east; the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south; the Bering Strait and the Bering Sea to the west; and the Chukchi Sea to the northwest. The capital is Juneau, which lies in the southeast, in the panhandle region. Alaska is central to the great circle route connecting North America with Asia by sea and air and is equidistant from most of Asia and Europe. That central location has made Alaska...